ISP Choice - From Pipex to

Hi,

I am looking at moving away from PIPEX and trying to find the best provider is turning into a nightmare. I run my own Exchange Server, VPN, FTP, Website, VOIP and also perform an online backup each night (it only backs up the changes but complete backup is about 10 Gig.

The FTP, Website and VPN are only for my use so no one really access it apart from me so I don't generate a lot of traffic. I also have an MSDN subscription so I get to download and test a number of Microsoft Software products (fully licenses and legally)

I am looking for a provider that is also not throtting any services as I do use a P2P to share some of my development projects (mainly website templates and things) and currently trying to share this stuff on a cap of 32k is a nightmare - don't want to give people access to my FTP server either.

I live about 4.1km from the exchange and here is the downstream states from my modem:

noise margin downstream: 12 db
output power upstream: 17 db
attenuation downstream: 59 db

Upload states are:

noise margin upstream: 19 db
output power downstream: 12 db
attenuation upstream: 31 db

I currently receive a 2mb download link and have just signed with BE but today I spoke with them to find I would only recieve 1mb and this would be unreliable because of the quality of my line (they say the download attenuation for their service should be around 40 db) so I have cancelled the order with them.

I guess I would need to stay with the ADSL MAX service but anyone got any advice?

I am finding with PIPEX that my online backup is failing most nights, the P2P is running very slow, VOIP keeps cutting out and I keep losing my connection and this started about 20-30 days ago.

Thanks for your help guys.

In reply to:

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I currently receive a 2mb download link and have just signed with BE but today I spoke with them to find I would only recieve 1mb and this would be unreliable because of the quality of my line (they say the download attenuation for their service should be around 40 db) so I have cancelled the order with them.

I guess I would need to stay with the ADSL MAX service but anyone got any advice?

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You should have tried Be. You would be better off with LLU, but now you'll never know. Be's estimates are always conservative.

Have a look at IDNET. They are very reputable and helpful. You can phone them free on mon-fri and email them anytime with your queries. They have been in the business for over 12 years.

www.idnet.co.uk

IDNet Studio, The Spirella Building, Letchworth, Herts SG6 4ET. UK
T: 08000 267 237 | E: [email protected]

Yes, agreed. The OP was right to go for Be in the first place.

To the OP - you will probably find all ISPs say you can only expect 1Mbs. But the whole point of the "up to 8Mbps" and "up to 24Mbps" ADSL/ADSL2+ services is that the hardware and software drive the line at the highest possible stable speed, as opposed to capping it at an abitrary limit based on attenuation and related estimates.

Unless the line is subject to high noise and high noise fluctation is is very rare to get a sync speed lower than a fixed speed line.

With Be you may find that a setting your router to ADSL2 or ADSL rather than ADSL2+ actually does improve the sync speed, but you can try that once connected.

You should go for either of the 24Mbps services to get the upload speed. You can always downgrade if you want to. In particular the Be Pro package sacrifices some download speed which you won't get anyway to give the 2.5Mbps upload.

In reply to:

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In particular the Be Pro package sacrifices some download speed which you won't get anyway to give the 2.5Mbps upload

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I doubt it would increase the upload at all at that attenuation.

Thanks for all your responses - I can always go back to BE but they say it is my choice to go with their service and if I want to move away after I am activated then I have to wait for 3 months before moving or I have to pay �50 to move and don't really want to be suffering from a poor service or having to pay extra to move away.

With the Pipex broadband checker it shows as 2.5mb download that I can get but if I check with Broadband ADSL Wholesale checker then it shows as 1mb so it is very difficult what to choose.

Ideally I want to stay with LLU provider as that seems to be the advice most people are giving on the forums and also generally on the web.

Please keep your comments coming as they are really helpful.

I think you'd get 2-3Mb on Be.

The checkers are always conservative.

Assuming your sync is 2272, which is what a 2Mb fixed line should be, then with your attenuation of 59 and noise margin of 12 you can realistically expect a sync of nearly around 2900 on ADSL Max or ADSL2+. Check you actually are on 2272 and plug the figures into here. It is one of the better estimators as it works on what you are getting now, not just the quality/length of line.

That pretty well agrees with the Pipex checker. In which case all IPStream ISPs will give you the same in real life, and ADSL2+ with Be almost certainly no less, and without the loss due to IP Profiling.

A while back Be told me
0.5 - 1 MBits/sec for downloading and
0.3 MBit/sec for uploading

I switched to O2 just yesterday and am getting 3.9-4.5 down, and 0.9 up

;-)

and your attenuation is the same. or did it go up when you changed to O2/Be ?